1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to communications in a virtual world. More specifically, it relates to establishing an effective communication between two users in a virtual world using indicators that measure the communication capability of the users.
2. Background Information
A virtual world is a computer-simulated environment which its users can inhabit and in which they can interact. The simulated environment may appear similar to the real world, or it may depict a fantasy world. A user accesses a virtual world using a computer. The computer-simulated virtual world presents perceptual stimuli to the user, who in turn can manipulate elements of the virtual world, and thus experiences tele-presence to a certain degree.
Most virtual worlds allow for multiple users to participate at once, and these users can interact via avatars in real time. An avatar, which refers to a user's representation of himself or herself in a virtual world, is usually depicted as a textual, two-dimensional graphical, or three-dimensional graphical representation. Other forms, for example auditory and touch sensations, are also possible. Virtual worlds' existence usually continues regardless of whether individual users are logged in, and they simulate rules (e.g. gravity, topography, locomotion, real-time actions, and communication) based on the real world or some hybrid fantasy world. Most Virtual worlds allow users to alter, develop, build, or submit customized content, and encourage the formation of in-world social groups like teams, clubs, cliques, housemates, neighborhoods, etc. As an example, many multiplayer online games create virtual worlds that are similar to the real world, with real world rules, real-time actions, and communication.
Communication between users, or more accurately, communication between the avatars of the users in the virtual world, has ranged from text, graphical icons, visual gesture, sound, and sometimes forms using touch and balance senses. For example, users in many multiplayer online games type textual messages to communicate with each other, and real-time voice communication using VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) is used as a supplementary type of communication.
One of the problems in the virtual world is that different users may have different commutation capacities. For example, when instant messaging (IMing) is used as the type of communication, users may type at a different speed. Thus, when a user tries to find another user to instant message with, it is not rare that the other party is not as responsive as expected, or types at a rate that is much different than the user, which makes the instant messaging uncomfortable between both parties. Usually a user who types fast wants to IM with another user who can reply quickly, and a user who types slowly may be overwhelmed by one who types really fast.
A mechanism is needed to identify the communication capabilities of a user (e.g. typing or spelling abilities in instant messaging), so that users of similar communication capacities can engage in more productive dialogues in a virtual world.